Argentina Futbol

argentina.jpg
By: Maria Morales,Yousef Mousa, Ritesh Dash

Argentina soccer has been around for a long time and there isn't a mark date to when it was first played in Argentina. But the first match of the national team was played in the year of 1901. The Argentina National Soccer team also known as La Albicelestes, which means "the sky blue and whites" has appeared in 4 finals, including the first final in 1930 which they lost to Uruguay, 4 to 2. They have won two titles in these FIFA international appearances. They won these two titles in 1978 and 1986. Their biggest win was in January of 1942 against Ecuador in Montevideo, Uruguay. The final score of the game was 12-0 a huge win!

Shirt badge/Association crest
Shirt badge/Association crest

Now you might ask, who's the best player on the Argentina team. Any Argentina fan wouldn't hesitate to answer Lionel Messi. Who leading all active Argentina players in goals with 61 this season. Last year, he scored a record-breaking 91 goals for his hometown team in Barcelona, Spain. This record was held by Gerd Muller for the previous 40 years. Another achievement is that he is the only player in history to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or 4 times, the previous record was 3 Ballon d'Or awards which was set by Marco van Basten, Johan Cryuff, and Michel Platini. At the age of 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 La Liga goals.Messi just broke another record by scoring in 19 consecutive games in La Liga and against all the teams.Lionel Messi's current futbol club is F.C Barcelona located in Spain. Then in Argentina, the top goal scores of Argentina are striker Gabriel Batistuta who has more than any other on the team. He has 56 in total and then Hernan Crespo who is in second place with 36 goals. Third place comes Diego Maradona with 35 and lastly but all time favorite Lionel Messi with 34 goals.

The Argentinean Team has also competed in the Copa America (Spanish for the American Cup). They currently have the second most titles from this tournament with 14 (Ecuador has the most titles with 15). This was preceded by the FIFA Confederation Cup.
Copa América
Total: 14 Titles
Year
Position

Year
Position

Year
Position
1916
Second place
1939
Withdrew
1967
Second place
1917
Second place
1941
Champions
1975
Round 1
1919
Third place
1942
Second place
1979
Round 1
1920
Second place
1945
Champions
1983
Round 1
1921
Champions
1946
Champions
1987
Fourth place
1922
Fourth place
1947
Champions
1989
Third place
1923
Second place
1949
Withdrew
1991
Champions
1924
Second place
1953
Withdrew
1993
Champions
1925
Champions
1955
Champions
1995
Quarter-finals
1926
Second place
1956
Third place
1997
Quarter-finals
1927
Champions
1957
Champions
1999
Quarter-finals
1929
Champions
1959
Champions
2001
Withdrew
1935
Second place
1959
Second place
2004
Second place
1937
Champions
1963
Third place
2007
Second place




2011
Quarter-finals
Currently, as the World Cup qualifier rounds have taken place. Argentina has taken a strong leap of strength and taken control of first place in their table. As of now Argentina, 7-1-3, (as displayed in the chart), with 24 points.
TAble Qualifier.PNG







Information from
http://soccerlens.com/argentina-football-records/100117/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina_national_football_team